ABC#140, for Seedling Theatre

ABC Run #140 on September 2 was a success with $915 donated to Seedling Theatre thanks to the generosity of everyone involved. Thanks much to:
(a) Laurel & Larry Schumacher for being awesome hosts at their new home in Normal.
(b) 42 attendees (and three other contributors) that donated a total of $915.
(c) Sharri Pelarske and Meg Anderson, for donating homemade preserves for our drawing.
(e) Seedling Theatre for donating tickets to an upcoming performance for our drawing.
(h) everyone who brought food! Too many to recall but this list might include most of them:Meg Anderson, Laurel Schumacher, Patty Bunker, Felicia Harrison, Kristin Crumrine, Ann Aubry, Rachel Wells, Jean & Christy Bates, Robyn Walter, Tammy Knippenberg, Holly-Rae Van Hoof, Lorelei Hudson. What a fantastic feast!

Seedling Theatre is a wonderful theatrical program for children & young adults & adults with disabilities, as well as their able bodied peers. We have completed nine ABC runs for Seedling Theatre, generating total donations of $10,779. ABC runs have been Seedling’s major source of donations which has helped them to purchase sound equipment, pay copyright fees, give small honorariums to staff, and much more. Thanks a million to everyone for all the support.

Donna Anhalt, the Seedling Theatre director, is deeply touched by the outpouring of support for Seedling and wishes to use the words of A.P. Gouthey to express her appreciation:
“Gratitude is the hardest of all emotions to express. There is no word capable of conveying all that one feels. Until we reach a world where thoughts can adequately be expressed in words, “thank you” will have to do.”

Donna also wishes to express great appreciation for her staff. “Most of Seedling staff consists of high school and college age young people who work so many hours with Seedling Theatre whether it be at our workshops, summer camp, Seedling Encore or our Christmas production. Many have been with Seedling Theatre since day one as junior high students and have now finished college and are still with me. My staff are amazing – their support and dedication rivals that of the Seedling participant’s families themselves. Honorarium is defined as a payment given for professional services that are rendered nominally without charge. Their time, talent, and dedication is definitely deserving of a small honorarium but what they do receive is so appreciated. I strongly believe the commitment and love these young people have for the Seedling participants is well deserving of anything they receive. Seedling Theatre would not exist without these fine young people and the love for what they do. The largest distribution of staff honorariums comes at Christmas so the annual ABC Run donations helps cover a significant portion of those honorariums”.